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The most important article in Steaming is the only one that seems to acknowledge just how loosely the community defines itself while, at the same time, just how adamant the members are in drawing boundaries and finding the ever-elusive “authentic” steampunk style. Diana M. Pho, in “Objectified and Politicized: The Dynamics of Ideology and Consumerism in Steampunk Subculture” takes the internal contradictions of the steampunk community as her subject. – OneLastSketch blog on Steaming into the Victorian Future (source)

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But the stuff Ay-Leen writes about is really interesting because she’s actually working towards a reclamation of sorts. Steampunk in this sense seems to be a chance to reject the narrative of impoverished savages and subjected women and reshape it to be more cohesive and empowering. – Erin Polgreen on COLORLINES (source)

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We’ll be completely honest with you: we don’t really read blogs….However, once in a while we find something that’s so special that we couldn’t ignore it even if we wanted to, and this is most definitely the case with Ay-leen the Peacemaker’s new project: Beyond Victoriana. – Steampunk Magazine (source)

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This site is an excellent look at different cultural perspectives for steampunk, especially in terms of country and color. Highly recommended. –Dieselpunk.net (source)

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This series is so incredibly amazing and I am so, so happy that Ay-Leen is writing and sponsoring them. It’s a fantastic resource, and shows the vast, beautiful, fantastic possibilities that the steampunk genre can encompass — but only if we stretch the fandom to allow room for more than just the basic Brit-centric faux-Victoriana, and be welcoming while we do it…. It’ll crack your imagination wide open. – Jane Irwin, author of the webcomic Clockwork Game (source)

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I enthusiastically support these writers for addressing these questions; I love steampunk, but it has some uncomfortable historical associations, especially for someone of white European descent, such as myself (my immediate ancestry is Italian, French, and German). Addressing such associations and expanding the discourse surrounding steampunk’s political and ideological underpinnings only serves to enrich the movement. I hope others take up the challenge, as well. – Dr. Dru Pagliasotti, professor and author of Clockwork Heart (source)

Ay-leen’s blog is a great example of what the conversation looks like. In her “First Nation Sci-Fi & Technology Resources” article, she demonstrates (without calling it this), a RaceWin list. Rather than targeting books that “fail,” Ay-leen holds up the ones that win, and focuses on them. She encourages us to read them, and learn. She invites us into the conversation, and gives enough space for it to occur. – Mike Perschon, The Steampunk Scholar (source)

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Interviews

Relating to Beyond Victoriana and the intersection of race, culture, fandom, and steampunk.

About Beyond Victoriana

The Nutshell ExplanationBeyond Victoriana is the oldest-running blog about multicultural steampunk and retro-futurism--that is, steampunk outside of a Western-dominant, Eurocentric framework. Founded in 2009, Beyond Victoriana focuses on non-Western cultures, underrepresented minorities in Western histories (Asian / Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, First Nation, Hispanic, black / African & other marginalized identities), and the cultural intersection between the West and the non-West.